Tonight Boise State is ready to make history away from the blue.
When the Boise State Broncos take the floor tonight in Dayton, OH, they know all eyes will be upon them. Although the school has long made a name for itself and earned respect throughout the NCAA, it's been for football and not for the hardwood. The Broncos hope that changes tonight.
The 21-10 Broncos have never won NCAA tournament game, so that puts even more pressure as they face La Salle tonight. The Broncos head into tonight's game not just with a coveted at-large bid, but also the wind at their back, having won five of their last six games, falling only to San Diego State in the Mountain West tournament quarterfinals. Both the Broncos and the LaSalle Explorers will run heavy with guards tonight.
How heavy?
Try four-guard offensive sets from both teams. Expect the teams to try to outrun as well as outscore each other. Boise State Sophomore guard Derrick Marks leads the team in assists with 3.9 a game, but when he's feeling his shot, look out. He's averaging 16.3 points a game and scored 38 points against Colorado on March 2. In the first of back to back games with San Diego State, he scored 27 points in the Broncos 69-65 win, but only 14 points in a loss to same team five days later. Fellow Sophomore Anthony Drmic is the more consistent half of the Broncos 1-2 punch. He's averaged nearly 22 points in his last 3 games. They'll need his steady hand tonight when the inevitable opening night jitters visit a team that hasn't been in the tournament since 2008.
LaSalle plans to make the most of their trip to the big dance as well. With their first NCAA Tournament invitation since 1992, they know the stage is set for something historic if they do their job. Like the Broncos, they'll be extremely guard heavy.
South Carolina transfer Ramon Galloway leads La Salle in scoring, steals and assists. Leading with four guards can often lead to height mismatches and, in part, accounts for the Explorers being outrebounded this season, 1,040 to 951. More boards would be nice, but overall defense could be the key to the LaSalle team that has outscored its opponents 72.4 points a game to 66 points. Speaking of points, it's not just inside the paint that the Explorers are dangerous. Guard Sam Mills is shooting nearly 50% in treys going 17-33 in his last nine games. The Explorers may need to play on the run with their 6-11 center Steve Zack out with a foot injury. He's listed as day-to-day.
My Prediction: I expect a battle with two teams that are almost mirror images of each other. Expect a lot of shots to go up, but when the last one hits the floor, the Broncos should come out on top.
The game will air 6:40 p.m. Wednesday on TruTv. Live stream of the game can be seen on the NCAA's web site.
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